Melissa Rose Bickerstaff, who now goes by the model name Melrose, is an American fashion model and fashion designer based in San Francisco, California, and signed to Storm Model Management. She first became well-known in 2006, when she placed as the runner-up in Cycle 7 of America’s Next Top Model.

Melrose grew up in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, and graduated from West Bloomfield High School in 2001. While in high school, she was active in theatre and was also a member of the ski team. She also participated in West Bloomfield High School’s Fashion Program, where she was a director of the show.

Bickerstaff graduated from The Art Institute of California – San Francisco with a degree in fashion design, where she was named “Best of Show” and “Most Creative” in the 2003 annual student fashion show. Before appearing on America’s Next Top Model, she worked as a fashion designer.

On the series, Bickerstaff went by “Melrose,” claiming she removed the “issa” from her first name because she “didn’t need it.” While making it to the final two on Top Model, Melrose was depicted as not well-liked by the other contestants, which was later revealed to E! as selective editing. Although her walk was deemed better than that of competitor CariDee English, she lost.

At the end of Bickerstaff’s Top Model run, she announced that she would help design clothes for former Lost cast member Michelle Rodriguez’s fledgling clothing line, Ishkidada. The next month, E! Online and TMZ.com reported that Melrose and actor Jeremy Piven had started a romance, but was later retracted by the latter source.

In February 2007, Melrose was a featured model in Malan Breton’s ready-to-wear show at New York Fashion Week. Her working relationship with Breton continued when she appeared with him at the GLAAD Media Awards wearing one of his dresses one month later. In April 2007, she also appeared in New York’s Tartan Week with Ivanka Trump and Marcus Schenkenberg.

Previously signed to Bleu Model Management and L.A. Models, Melrose signed to Storm Model Management in late 2007, the same agency which manages models Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss, and Alek Wek. She’s also been signed with Yuli Models and MC2 Models in Israel. Melrose has also done advertisements for Scoop NYC, Jack Rabbit Belts, and Beau Soleil Fall 2007 Collection, as well as walked the runways at London Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2008 for designer Aminika Wilmot.

Melrose signed modeling contracts with Bleu Model Management, Storm and L.A. Models. Her editorial appearances include the December 2006 issue of Seventeen. She has done modeling for SuperCuts, she was featured as a special guest on Cycle 8 of America’s Next Top Model, as well as a special correspondent for E! Television.

I think she is fortunate to have gotten a contract with an agency in London, since agencies never give reality TV show contestants a chance. What makes her different from CariDee is the fact she’s done work abroad while signed to an agency, as opposed to travelling to a foreign country for a fashion show then coming back to America. She has the right body, which is not fleshy like CariDee’s.

She is so fake. She always made fun of Anchal. And when Anchal she first said what she really meant saying she hated Anchal but then she knew that could get her in trouble and said Anchal was awesome. When in the house, she yelled and made fun of Anchal. Even after Anchal tried to help Melrose to talk to her landlord. And she looked old and ugly too.

Ugh. People like you make me mad. Did you not read the part that revealed that her attitude was actually selective editing? You can’t expect to know everything that actually happened during their stay, and honestly Anchal was borderline pathetic, and it was her fault for making herself so vulnerable. Sure, maybe Melrose had more of an attitude, but she was strong, and as she said herself, she worked her butt off, and that’s what got her this far. So, really. Take your ignorance elsewhere.

Having recently watched this cycle again, I cannot agree more that Melrose was a HUGE victim of ANTM editing. In fact and for example she did share the clothes win “the twin” but we never saw that. After Monique was eliminated, ANTM needed a new bad girl and unfortunately Melrose was it.

She clearly IS the winner of this cycle because she has gone on to become a true model versus another post-reality show B-list celeb who is only hired for their 15 minutes of recognizable fame. Kudos to Melrose for defying the rating/drama-seeking ANTM editors! And as for Anchal – watch the episode again. Jaeda and the twins had just as much to say about Anchel and Melrose NEVER said anything untrue or cruel!!!

Watching the commercial that is run over and over again. Her walk is a riot cannot believe anyone in their right mind would let this girl strut around in the white dress-did you see her walk- not even straight and then bouncing her fake hair to wrap the red scarf with exaggerated hand movements around her. It’s got to be a joke! The false hair and the older commercial in the black outfit with the phony hair and twirl. No agency in their right mind would approve of this character unless their is someone else in control or maybe who she is dating. THAT WALK OF HER’S IS LAUGHABLE! Sorry but that is what I see and soooo tired of all the reruns of this commercial!

Melrose was an amazing contestant! She had the most passion out of anyone there. To have to deal with all the snide comments from the other contestants and to be chastised because she was so upbeat and put in the hard work was just jealousy! She never bitched like the others in the confessional! She deserved to win!

I liked melrose to but Tyra always knows the best girl for to win Americas next top model. But please Melrose keep your clothes on…
My favorite girl on Americas next top model would have to be Cha Cha!

Ugh some of you are gross. A suicide attempt is a tragic act and should be not be used casually as proof of someone being a loser.
Also don’t know how so many can defend this woman – sure, there is manipulative editing, but the words came out of her mouth. Oh well, for every a-hole, there are many people on the internet casting them as the underdog and defending them.

Well, it’s not exactly news that the editing is off. “Reality” shows are all about editing. That said, I never thought she was a bitch one bit. I thought she was much better than all the others and agree with whoever said once Monique was gone they needed a “Bad girl” or whatnot. I think she actually looks much better now than then. I’ve noticed that about a lot of the former contestants…aside from some scary skinnys, they’ve “grown” into their looks/faces, etc. Lost the baby fat or whatever. I loved Melrose. I hope she comes back for All Stars, but most these girls have such good careers I wonder who they are actually going to get!

@Renka, I find it funny that out of what 20 or 30 pictures you ONLY focus on the 5 or 6 that were nudes (and artistic nudes at that!). There was not ONE nude done with a pornographic feel to it and 4 out of 6 pictures are implied nudity. I’m going to bet that even if those nudes weren’t included, you would still find something to pick on. Bitter people are like that 😉

I think they over-dramatized her bitchiness. Much of the whining about her was out of jealousy/insecurity of the other contestants. E.g. “No way should Melrose have won the go-see challenge.” Excuse me? Were you there to witness her performance in those go-sees? As I said, much of the bitching came from a place of insecurity.

Yes, Melrose is a perfectionist and very hard on herself. That perfectionism is projected onto others, and she treated them accordingly. No one is perfect.

She is my absolute favorite contestant ever. SHE SHOULD HAVE WON. The editing made her look bad. They made it appear that the twins hated her when in fact they are such good friends in real life. She knows fashion, won challenges after challenges, and they were the challenges that mattered.

Melrose did more than just bitch, come on now, how blind do you have to be to see how fake she was, she was devious, conceded and she acted like a spoiled brat, you can’t excuse everything by saying that’s the way it was edited. Caridee wasn’t fake, I loved her, I think she could do anything in the entertainment business, and she will if she wants. I might be biased with melrose though, because as soon as I seen her I didn’t think she had the face of a model.

Amazing Melrose…just watched a re-run of ANTM…still think they made a mistake choosing Caridee. Just read a quote by her saying that she wants to do more than just stand in front of a camera having her picture taken! I think she just used to competition to get into TV. I’m so glad that Melrose has stayed true to herself.

I was extremeley disappointed when she wasnt called 2 be antm. She should have been and she is more succesful then caridee! She is drop dead gorgeous and wish her the best with everything she does and keep having a succesful career in the modeling industry. One day i hope 2 meet her! Im her #1 fan!!

I can’t believe Caridee won over her. I mean, I know Melrose was a bih, but she took THEE most amazing photos in Top Model history. Well in my opinion anyway. And Caridee’s runway was just a disaster! She looked like a complete moron screaming and running. It was just “ugly-ugly”. Caridee still had poise as she did her walk. It was very “pretty-ugly”.

It’s a shame that the modelling industry being what it is that we can’t see what sort of pictures Melrose would have taken at 16 – when that kind of appears a bit older than she is thing could have really worked to her favor. Sorry. I don’t want that to be the case, I’d rather see models who DON’T look 14 selling me clothes, but the reality of it is that these look like pictures of an actress or TV personality or a celebrity rather than of a model to me. And the amount of nudity seems a little desperate, like please please notice me and give me work, look! I’ve still got it! I find it hard to believe that it was only editing that made her look bitchy on ANTM – things like saying she stayed up an extra two hours to learn her part irritated everyone who tried to explain to her that she didn’t know what time they all went to bed so how did she know it was two extra hours, I can remember plenty of other examples – personally I wouldn’t like to live with her either – but I’d certainly rather live and compete with Melrose than with, say, Angelea or Bianca or Robyn (from cycle 1). Good luck to her, looks like she’s doing quite successfully.

I dont know which season u were watching.but there is nothing ugly about Melrose.and she wasnt making fun of Anchal,the chick was anoying complaining about how ugly she was all the time,how fat ,how dark?dude..agg i thought Anchal was weird looking ugly sorry but anyways Melrose deserved the Win TOO BAD She didnt get it but she aent ugly

Melrose is hard-working, very professional and a fabulous model. I don’t think she was a bitch at all, she just wanted to win and it is a competition! I don’t get how anyone can say she is ugly/ looks old – really? She is one of my favourite ANTM contestants ever alongside Nik, Dani and Angelea.

I’m watching cycle 7 all over again and I admit that Melrose always come across as being arrogant but she is not a bitch. The situation between her and Anchal just got blown out of control. There are other people in the house talked about Anchal’s insecurity behind her back, but only Melrose was singled out as the bitch who made Anchal cry. It’s really frustrating for me to watch the show as nobody denies the fact that Anchal is beautiful but she kept complaining about her look and about her body. What Melrose said on that night was nothing bitchy. She even admitted that she thought Anchal was beautiful but Anchal didn’t become more beautiful as the competition went on. So what is bitchy about that? People in the house don’t like Melrose because she is a bit over-confident. But that comes with age. When Melrose went into ANTM, she’s already 23 and at that age, you already had time to deal with much of your teenager’s insecurities. Throughout the whole season, I admire Melrose for handling all the challenges and all the bitchiness in the house so well, especially the thing between her and Monique. Remember the scene where the 2 girls were in the kitchen and Melrose was trying to cook her meal? Monique was acting quite crazily and all Melrose did was laugh it off. It’s much more mature than Monique. Instead of involving herself in a loud argument which I don’t think will end up good for either of them, Melrose chose a better way by making the whole situation as a funny joke. I love her more for that. I don’t think there are any girl in the house who is fake. You can not fake your personality and emotion for the whole time. a few days may be possible but remember, they are in the house for a few months.

Again, I love Melrose and I hope she has a successful career no matter what she chooses.

everybody judges these girls like they know them. Reality T.V is a lie they only show the dramatic parts never the real ones. They show what will get viewers and Melrose was the drama. I’m sure she is just a regular person like you and me. Don’t judge, when you don’t know.

This woman is seriously not valuing her dignity, posing topless and even nude with a man. People can see these naked photos of herself and I personally find it odd to be seeing a lady half dressed and showing a lot of skin. Why is she giving away her body so easily? It is really sad to see models these days promoting this erratic behavior which tempts young people to do the same.

If they hold age against someone then why did they pick her to be on the show to begin with … She should have won .. she had by far the best pictures and did the best Secret commerical .. Tyra said it was the best in ANTM history .. Her losing really show what kind of hipocites all on the panel are .. Caridee is a joke .. if she didn’t have some skin disease you would never know she was still alive .

So beautiful. Definitely should have won, completely rocked the fashion show, and even if she was “mean” like people say at least she wasn’t being fake about how she felt. She was there to win not be best friends with anyone. She was amazing.

OK everyone has different views on melrose and say that she has been a victim of selective editing but may I remind you they can’t put words in her mouth she did say all the mean things about Anchal and Caridee because Anchal is stunning and Caridee took alot of stronger photos than Melrose and then she got jealous of Eugena because after Melrose she won the most challenges and she started doing well and producing amazing photos and commercials. Melrose still said all the bad things not matter how selective the editing was she still said everything and she acted fake and she said bad things about everyone in about the top six except Michelle because she knew she took the best photos Melrose may have had friends but she still said mean stuff and she did seem a little bi-polar

Melrose is beautiful and such a hard worker. Her drive is amazing and she is really nice. I love her antm photos and especially her post- top model pics!!!! Great job melrose you’re awesome and gorgeous !!

I didn’t like Melrose’s personality but she photographs really well and on the E! ANTM special – they showed just how much they edited her interactions with the other girls. If you watch it you’ll see that she wasn’t as psychotic as how she was portrayed.